The U.S. economy lost 20.5 million jobs last month, and the unemployment rate climbed to 14.7 percent - both record highs - leaving bare the starkest image yet of the debilitating effect of the coronavirus pandemic.
In just one month, since the Great Recession of 2007-09, the institutionally poor performance unexpectedly erased almost all the job gains the nation had made. The reversal was head-spinning: in February, the unemployment rate had reached a 50-year low of 3.5 percent before rising to 4.4 percent the following month in the midst of the crisis's early effects.
The 10.3 percent rise from March, when the figure was 4.5 percent, is the biggest leap since the government started gathering information on jobs in 1948.
The unemployment rate rose to 31.3 per cent in the motion picture and sound recording industry, when some 217,000 workers lost their jobs in April, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In the March survey, the jobless rate in the industry was 1.8 percent. The group includes manufacturing and theater employees, who were laid off or furloughed as the film industry stalled.
There is no question that the stunning fall will exacerbate the push-pull around the country on how and when to loosen constraints on stay at home. And it robs United States President Donald Trump of the opportunity that he campaigns for reelection to point to a healthy economy.
"The employment result from hell is here," Sal Guatieri, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets, said - "one that has never been witnessed before and impossible to be seen again barring another pandemic or meteor striking the Earth." Stocks moved higher on Wall Street as investors reckoned the worst job losses were over. The Dow Jones gained more than 455 points, or nearly 2 percent.
Once the cornerstone of the US, production shed 1.3 million jobs. Government employees were not invulnerable to the ill effects of the crisis, as 980,000 people became jobless.
The spike in the unemployment rate did not reflect the complete damage caused by the industry shutdowns, the Associated Press reports. The Labor Department said its survey-takers wrongly listed millions of Americans as working in April although their employers have shut down their business.
In the meantime, Wall Street investors looked past the grim toll and concentrated on the likelihood that the economy could return to growth as states reopen for business. Stocks were up late Friday as optimism soar that the worst has passed for the American economy.
